Any Ferocity pet, really. Spirit Beasts actually don't do any more damage than your typical Ferocity (e.g. Moth). Spirit Beasts are just the pet of choice for BM Hunters for some reason.

Self-heals are good utility.

Now, THIS thing? THIS thing is horrible. It's just awful. It was awful at 60 and it was awful at 58. It's awful at 45. If this dropped off a mob in Wailing Caverns when you were level 17 and being run through by a higher level character, you would equip it ONLY because you don't have trinkets at that level, and it would STILL SUCK.

While the heal from a spirit beast isn't useless I'm quite certain that it will almost never really be a reason for using a spirit beast in a raiding environment due to the fact that its very low amount of healing that will most likely go unnoticed.

While the heal from a spirit beast isn't useless I'm quite certain that it will almost never really be a reason for using a spirit beast in a raiding environment due to the fact that its very low amount of healing that will most likely go unnoticed.

Well, in a well-prepped raid (with all buffs and debuffs covered), what other choice is there? A ferocity pet that provides a redundant buff, or a ferocity spirit beast that provides a redundant buff and a small heal?

Is there any current consensus on how haste and mastery stack up against one another for BM, or is it still functionally equal in practice?

Thank you

If you at least have T13 2p Mastery beats Haste by about 100 DPS. But they are really very close together.
If you're MM/BM go with crit > haste > mastery. If you're SV/BM go with crit > mastery > haste. Makes it convenient.

Did we ever come to any kind of consensus about whether or not to use Focus Fire during Bestial Wrath? I recall the norm being thrown into question a few weeks ago, but I don't remember seeing any definitive answer on it.*

I'd say no.
During BW, you should be able to fire only arcane shots, back to back. So the haste would only gain you auto-shots. I'd say it would be better to pop FF when you're low on focus, to have more Cobra Shots.

Originally Posted by Genganger

Often I just open the fridge instead of turning the lights on in the kitchen. I like that.

Yea, and logistically, I agree with you. I just remember a post (God save me, I can't remember where) when someone was showing that some of the highest BM logs on the web showed that the hunters who did so were using FF without paying any heed to BW. If what the post was suggesting were true, it appeared to either be a DPS wash, or so insignificant that it's not worth micro-managing.*

Yea, and logistically, I agree with you. I just remember a post (God save me, I can't remember where) when someone was showing that some of the highest BM logs on the web showed that the hunters who did so were using FF without paying any heed to BW. If what the post was suggesting were true, it appeared to either be a DPS wash, or so insignificant that it's not worth micro-managing.*

That was during a time where no one played BM and someone with full BiS and a extremely fast kill got the highest rank on a fight. I played some BM before 4.3 and while my damage was not as high as MM I still ranked pretty much every week on every boss with out a lot of min-maxing and I was far away from BiS.

Got a question about Kiril (LFR in my case). How should I manage the proc? Pop BW whenever Fury of the beast is at 10 stacks, even if Frenzy doesn't have 5 stacks? Or just pop other cd during Kiril proc and use BW only with 5 stacks of Frenzy?

I rarely play BM, but when I do, I stack the VP-trinket with BW (although I lose uptime on BW that way, 1:17 CD vs 1:30 CD).
The polearm has a 45s ICD, so if it procs instantly, you can stack every second polearm-proc with BW. In theory.
In practice, that might not work perfectly.

About Frenzy... I dunno, I never pay attention to either Frenzy nor Focus Fire if I pop BW.

Originally Posted by Genganger

Often I just open the fridge instead of turning the lights on in the kitchen. I like that.

I rarely play BM, but when I do, I stack the VP-trinket with BW (although I lose uptime on BW that way, 1:17 CD vs 1:30 CD).
The polearm has a 45s ICD, so if it procs instantly, you can stack every second polearm-proc with BW. In theory.
In practice, that might not work perfectly.

About Frenzy... I dunno, I never pay attention to either Frenzy nor Focus Fire if I pop BW.

In that case, do you skip the BW Major Glyph? It seems that the 20 second cooldown reduction is wasted if we could really optimize the damage done if we stacked every BW cast with the VP trinket.

I rarely play BM, but when I do, I stack the VP-trinket with BW (although I lose uptime on BW that way, 1:17 CD vs 1:30 CD).
The polearm has a 45s ICD, so if it procs instantly, you can stack every second polearm-proc with BW. In theory.
In practice, that might not work perfectly.

About Frenzy... I dunno, I never pay attention to either Frenzy nor Focus Fire if I pop BW.

The only time you should stack the VP trinket is on Spine, and that's about it. It's really only useful for that short time needed for burst damage. The polearm is NOT on a 45s ICD, but I believe its on a 1min - 55s ICD, I've seen it proc a few seconds before my timer ends. As for frenzy, let it stack and use FF after BW has finished or on CD.

As for Skygoneblue in regards to not using the glyph, it is a DPS loss with out it. Ideally you should use BW off CD and it should line up with your polearm, however thats not always the case.

As for Skygoneblue in regards to not using the glyph, it is a DPS loss with out it. Ideally you should use BW off CD and it should line up with your polearm, however thats not always the case.

Thanks. My question was based on the assumption that the staff ICD was 45 seconds, in which case, you'd be wasting the glyphed seconds waiting to align the staff ICD with the BW CD. If the staff ICD is truly that long, then yea, obviously keeping the glyph is best.